Award-winning chef Nancy Silverton has conquered the gourmet world as the original dessert chef at Spago and founder of the celebrated La Brea Bakery. Her recipes are legendary, innovative, and delicious. However, in the last few years, there has been a great shift in cooking toward the Home Meal Replacement (HMR), better known as “takeout.” It’s impossible to spend hours in the kitchen after a hard day’s work, so more people are buying prepared foods and frozen meals, compromising taste for convenience. Realizing that people’s hectic workdays don’t afford everyone the time to re-create her epicurean triumphs, Nancy has come up with the perfect solution . . .

Enter, the jar!

Compiling a list of her favorite products that come in jars—and cans, bags, and boxes—Nancy has created easy-to-follow recipes that require less than thirty minutes to prepare. With this book there’s no need to sacrifice flavor, sophistication, and taste just because you’re spending less time chopping, cleaning, cooking, or baking. Nancy’s shortcuts not only allow us to produce quick and easy meals at home, they let us bring back the pride and the joy of creating gourmet meals for our family and friends.

A Twist of the Wrist contains 137 quick and delicious gourmet recipes from salads to pasta to meats and desserts, such as:

Cumin Shrimp and Chickpea Salad with Roasted Carrots
Creamy Corn Soup with Bacon and Cheddar Crostini
Orzo with Dried Porcini Mushrooms, Radicchio, and Aged Balsamic Vinegar
Boneless Pork Chops, with Creamy Polenta and Fennel Pollen
Seared Rare Tuna with Tomato-Olive Salsa
Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Pie with Hot Fudge Sauce, Cajeta, and Salty Spanish Peanuts

In addition to Nancy’s own creations, she includes recipes concocted with prepared ingredients from some of her chef friends, including Sara Foster, Tom Colicchio, Charlie Trotter, Mario Batali, Suzanne Goin, Ruth Reichl, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

There is also a pantry section, telling us where to get—by the Internet and mail order—the best of all things canned, jarred, and bottled.

This charming and utterly indispensable cookbook is suited for any type of cook, whether you’re an on-the-go gourmand or you just love flavorful, accessible meals at home. A Twist of the Wrist fits perfectly into today’s modern lifestyle and is a must-have for the contemporary kitchen.

Nancy Silverton is the author of Nancy Silverton’s Pastries from the La Brea Bakery (recipient of Food & Wine Best Cookbook award in 2000), Nancy Silverton’s Breads from the La Brea Bakery (nominated for Julia Child and James Beard cookbook awards), Nancy Silverton’s Sandwich Book, and Desserts. She will soon be opening a new restaurant in Los Angeles, Mozza, with Mario Batali. She lives in Los Angeles.

Carolynn Carreño is a James Beard Award-winning journalist and the coauthor of 100 Ways to Be Pasta (with Wanda and Giovanna Tornabene), Fresh Every Day (with Sara Foster), and Once Upon a Tart (with Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau). She lives in Los Angeles and New York.